TIC? Got Cash? To The Front Of The Line Please…

Good news on a Monday morning:

-Waiting to go condo is San Francisco’s version of waiting for Godot [seeing that phrase a lot lately…good on ya Malcolm.]

Building owners can spend years vying for one of 200 condo-conversion slots awarded annually via a lottery. But this year San Francisco is considering letting people skip the line, offering a one-time chance to the hundreds of folks on the lottery list to go condo now – for an extra fee. The goal is to generate more revenue for the cash-strapped city and to create building-industry jobs, because condo conversions generally require some construction work to bring buildings up to code.

-A proposal to expedite condo conversion would require approval by either the supervisors or the voters – no easy task in a city where housing issues are famously contentious. Tenant advocates say the practice hurts renters who get evicted when buildings convert to tenancies in common, the step before going condo. Previous proposals for increased condo conversions have failed miserably.

-“It’s a win-win if the fee is not too high,” [says one TIC owner]. “The city also will make more money when property taxes go up, when they reassess the units (as condos rather than TICs).”

On the other hand, TIC owner Daniele Mills, an administrative assistant at Genentech, said she thinks the proposal doesn’t seem democratic.

“It has a lot of repercussions for people with less income than other people,” she said. “The lottery seems more fair.”

Nothing in life is fair. It’s kinda like going to a club and tipping the doorman to get in, skip the line, and party on, instead of losing your buzz waiting in line.

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The SF budget shortfall is 340 million for ’08/’0. There are 2000 or so units waiting. Even at $10,000 per, that’s just 20 million. less than 10% of the money needed to make up for the shortfall… unless the 2000 number is wrong (I assume it’s the total # of units, not buildings).

Waiting for Godot. One of my favorites, so I can’t resist my favorite quote:

“We give birth astride of the grave. The light gleams an instant, then it’s night once more. On!”

As for TIC conversion, the limits on condo conversions have long distorted the market without demonstrably improving the plight of renters. A “fair” system would be to have SF inhabitants, both owners and renters [yes, there are plenty of wealthy renters taking advantage of rent control too] pay a tax to subsidize those in need. That’s fair. Who’s first?

Fair subsidy is not what this is about, it is about making the city some money.

anon8mizer, where is that $10K number from? They could and should charge much more. Plus they should sell them to future buyers of TIC’s if they want to make some real money, not just the people in line now. If you sell those it will stimulate some unit purchasing as well, all the better for the city coffers. Mandate some seismic upgades to get one while there at it. Pick up a little more money.

the $10k is an assumption. Current charge is $10k for condo conversion in fees. I guess it probably will be more. The value of the TIC will go up 10-15% after conversion in general. Assuming a TIC average value is around 500K, 10% is $50k. The city probably can argue that it should get $25k, or, to get a % of the assessed value.

Wow! You are so generous with my profits. T own a number of buildings and I would rather burn them down than stay in this cesspool of hate directed towards property owners, and reflected by the unrelenting drumbeat of more taxes. You’re killing the goose that laid the egg! You’re assuming the economy will come back, and that taxes will not go up. Most property owners are fleeing Sna francisco California’s communist regime, like rats fleeing a sinking ship. Good luck with the huddeled masses thing. You are not going to hold me hostage anymore. This state is over rated, and so is diversification. Good bye and good riddance!